If you’ve been in the restaurant industry for any amount of time, you know that this sector is heavily dominated by online marketplaces, commonly known as food delivery platforms. From Wolt to Glovo and beyond, food delivery platforms are the places customers go to find their new favorite restaurants and get quality food and drinks delivered to their doorstep.
Naturally, if you want to maximize conversions and build a popular brand on these platforms, you need to rank as high as possible. Keep in mind that many people discover new restaurants on these marketplaces, so it’s not just about making a sale – ranking high will help you build up your business in the competitive restaurant industry.
Whether you’re new to these platforms or if you’ve been there for a while, you could always rank higher. Here are the five tips you need to maximize your ranking in 2022 on every food delivery platform.
Leverage Promotions, Discounts, and Marketplace-Specific Programs
Want to stay relevant on a competitive online marketplace? Then you have to run special offers, deals, and discounts, and you have to leverage the perks that the delivery platform provides. This is crucial for new restaurants because online marketplaces favor newcomers – so if you’re new, make sure to leverage all your channels and utilize this period to its full potential.
Let’s break it down some more.
Food delivery platforms typically have a special category where they list all the popular restaurants that are currently running some sort of deal or promotion. They will even send push notifications if you’re someone’s favorite restaurant, which is also a great way to market your restaurant delivery online and build brand awareness.
Fortunately, there are numerous types of promotions and offers you can run, including:
- Money off a customer’s first order.
- Holiday discounts.
- Free delivery for orders over a certain price value.
- Free dessert or drinks for certain price value orders.
- Buy one, get one for free.
You can also hop on board whatever promotion or special offer the delivery platform is running. For example, Wolt is popular for its national-cuisine weeks, such as Mexican week, American week, etc.
Use that to your advantage and run special offers if your restaurant falls into a specific category in order to rank high. After all, deals and discounts are always in high demand.
Stay on Top of All Reviews and Act Quickly
Reviews and ratings can make or break a restaurant’s reputation on a delivery platform. The better your ratings and reviews, the higher will you rank because the platform will consider you a reliable and reputable restaurant.
It should go without saying that you need to focus on delivering top-notch service and quality if you are to get positive reviews, but you also need to act quickly when you get negative feedback. That’s why it’s so important to use a tool like Bitebell to monitor and manage your online reputation from a centralized hub, to quickly transform negative reviews into success stories.
Needless to say, this will not only help you rank high, but it will also help you manage a successful omnichannel strategy.
Certain platforms will allow a negative review to be changed into a positive one (or to be deleted), provided that the restaurant tends to the dissatisfied customer quickly. With Bitebell, you have the opportunity to right all the wrongs and thus rank higher on every online marketplace.
Speaking of users and their experience, understand that user ratings are the main ranking factor here, so what can you do to improve your ratings? You can get more five-star reviews and rank in the top-rated category by:
- Getting the order right every time.
- Meeting expectations in terms of quality, food presentation, temperature, portion sizes, and more.
- Prepping and delivering the food quickly.
- Eliminating the risk of error and automating the ordering process.
- Asking for a favorable review with a heartfelt message printed on a handout and delivered with the food.
Do this consistently, and you will consistently get a thumbs up or a five-star rating on every food delivery platform.
Prep the Orders Quickly but Retain Quality
Delivery speed is one of the most important ranking factors on food delivery platforms. If the platform is handling the delivery through its couriers, then there’s not much you can do to make them deliver the food faster – but you can help by quickly preparing the meals for pickup.
Maintain operational efficiency by processing all incoming orders quickly. You can use Bitebell to your advantage here as well, as the tool will automatically punch in all incoming orders from all online marketplaces directly into your POS. This will eliminate the risk of error and will allow your team to work faster without sacrificing quality.
Another important feature to have at your fingertips is to be able to keep your menu updated in real-time across all the delivery platforms you’re using. You can do this with Bitebell as well, but the functionality goes beyond simply keeping an up-to-date product offering.
Real-time menu management from a centralized system allows you to quickly create bundle offers and seize opportunities to attract more hungry customers at the right time. For example, prior to or during an important sporting event, you can quickly create a bundle offer that’s perfect for a group of fans when they’re watching the game together at home.
Instead of searching for individual meals and drinks, bundle offers and small discounts will get people interested immediately and will keep your restaurant relevant on the platform. In the long run, all of this will keep your menu interesting for new and seasoned customers.
Get on the Featured List on Every Online Marketplace
One of the best ways to rank high and stay relevant is to consistently appear in the “top picks” section. Also known as the “featured” or “recommended for you” section, this is where the platform will automatically puts a restaurant based on a number of ranking factors.
These include:
- Your conversion metrics.
- Your user rating and reviews.
- The distance between you and the customer.
- Your operational efficiency and performance.
- The customers’ preference data.
There’s not much you can do to affect some of these, but you will rank higher if you keep your menu updated, focus on speed and quality, and if you provide a good value for money.
Start Ranking Higher in 2022
Online marketplaces are becoming increasingly competitive. Retaining that top spot on delivery platforms will guarantee more customers, conversions while building a popular brand.
Take advantage of the special promotions on each platform, reply to all reviews quickly to get a five-star rating, and emphasize operational efficiency. Use the right POS and other software to stay in control and eliminate the risk of human error in order to improve customer experience and propel your brand to the top of every online marketplace in 2022.
